The Lahore High Court registrar's office on Friday returned an application of former president Gen Pervez Musharraf (retd) against his conviction in the high treason case as the relevant full bench was not available during winter vacations.

The petitioner has challenged all actions starting from complaint of high treason to the establishment of the special trial court and its proceedings. A full bench headed by Justice Syed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi is scheduled to take up the main petition of Musharraf on January 9 next.

A special court on December 17 had handed down death penalty to Musharraf with a two to one majority. The application stated that Musharraf was not given a chance to present his arguments and that the special court quite "abruptly" and "hurriedly" wrapped up the trial.

It also specifically assailed the paragraph 66 of the special court's verdict wherein court's president judge Justice Waqar Seth in his minority view said, "We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan, and be hanged for three days."

The application argued that the president of the special court crossed all religious moral, civil and constitutional limits. It highlighted that special court's member Justice Nazar Akbar in his dissenting note mentioned that the actions taken by Musharraf could be termed illegal and unconstitutional but they could not be tantamount to treason.

The petitioner asked the high court to set aside the special court's verdict for being illegal and unconstitutional. The petitioner pleaded that the impugned verdict be suspended till decision of the main petition and directions be issued to the federal government to produce complete record of the special court.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019